Apparatus fob operating booster-supplemented locomotives



Dec. 11, 1923. 1,476,729

M. H. ROBERTS APPARATUS FOR OPERATING BOOSTER SUPPLEMENTED LOCOMOTIVESFiled June 10. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W] TNESS I I 2 NVENT OR Z W I WV ATTORNE Y5 M. H. ROBERTS APPARATUS FOR OPERATII NG BOOSTER SUPPLEMENTEDLOCOMOTIVES Filed June 10 1922 2 Sheets-Shed 2 A Z [a VNTOR PatentedDec. 11., 1923.

* UNITED STATES 'MONTAGUE HY. ROBERTS, or ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY,Assmison TO'FRANKLIN 1,476,729 PATEN'E' OFFICE.1

RAILWAY SUPPLY.COM?ANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE. v

APPARATUS FOR OPERATING BOOSTER-SUPPLEMENTED LOCOMOTIVES.

- v Application filed June 10,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Mouracuu Ears, a citizen of the United States,residing at Englewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forOperating Booster-Supplemented Locomotives, of which the following is aspecification.-

This invention relates to booster supplemented locomotives such,.forinstance, as are illustrated in patent to Howard L.,Ingersoll, No.1,339,395, issued May 11th,-1'920, and particularly to an improvedmethodof and apparatus for operating such locomotives.

dAn object in view in the present invention. 1s to equip a locomotivewith a booster motortogether with suitable means for controlling itwithout in any way disturbing, impairing, changing or, modifying thenormal functions and methods of operation of the locomotive.

Booster motors of the type contemplated herein and also as disclosed intheabove mentioned patent are intended to aid the main locomotiveinstarting and when runten to twenty miles an hour;

ning at slow speeds particularly up a long heavy grade. flhey arepreferably although not necessarily arranged to drive the wheels of atrailer truck which, although they carry considerable weight, normallyare fdead insofar as development of power is 'concerned. Trailer truckwheels are also of much smaller diameter than the main driving wheelsand by arranging the booster motor to drive thema very great increase inthe draw bar pull of a given locomotive can be effected. They aredesigned to be cut out as soon as the locomotive attains a. cer- "ta'inpredetermined speed say for example In the arrangement disclosed in theabove mentioned patent it 'wasintended to operate the booster motor onlyduring such times as the reverse leverfwas moved into the corner as itis colloquiallyr expressed and immediately upon hooking up or'm'ovingthe reverse lever even so much as one notch away from thecorner "it. wasintended that the' booster motor should be cutout.

It is the object of the present invention to provide apparatus for theoperation of a booster supplemented locomotive such" that the mainengines maybe operated experr bell crank lever 9.

1922. Serial No. 567,290.

I sively substantially durin the period that hereinafter I obtain bymeans of a construction which s illustrated in preferred form in theaccompanyinv drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 1s a schematic diagram illustrating my improved boostercontrolling mechanism; Fig. 2 is a side elevation on an'err' largedscale of the reverse lever of'a locomotive showing the manner inwhiclrmy imp'rovement may be associated therewith; and Fig.3 is asection on the line of Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 I have diagrammatically illustrated the reverse lever, 1 of alocomotive which is pivoted at 2 for swinging movement across thequadrant 3 in a manner well known in this art. Thereach rod 4 attachedIto theloiver end of the rod 1 extends to the mechanism,whatever it maybe, for altering thefvalve cut oil for the main cylindors of thelocomotive.

Within the dome 5 ofthe'locomotive is located the usual main throttlevalve 6 and dry pipe 7 leading to the main cylinder valve chests. Thethrottle is operated-in much the'usual manner from the cab (not shown)throughthe medium of the rod 8 and the From the dome 5"there alsoextends the booster motorsteam supply pipe 10 in which is located anysuitable throttle valve 11 adapted to be opened whenthe lever 12, whichis pivoted at 13, is rocked downwardly at its left hand end in a mannerhereinafter to be described. r 1 The booster motor, of course; is notdesigned nor intended to run the locomotive by itself and Iithereforeprefer to arrange its controlling devices in such manner that it will beimpossible to out in the booster motor until after the main cylinders ofthe locomotive are in operation.) I therefore associate the controllingmechanism for the booster m or with some moving part of thecontrollingtmechanism for the main looomutwive and I prefer and haveshown it as associated with the reverse lever 1 of the mainlocomo tiv'ealthough' it might associated with some other-part of areverse'meehanism;

When theengineman starts themain loco-,

motive he moves the reverse lever l llltO the corner as it iscolloquially expressed. If; he desires the booster motor to be throwninto operation aftersteam. has been'admitted through the main throttle 6heraises the latchiormovable element l which is pivot- V ally; mountedupon the bolt carried by the reversoleverito theposition indicatediinthedrawings. For this purpose the latch: or element: 14-is-prov-ided withthe handle 16. Thernonnal position for this latch when the booster motoris not to be .operatedwouldbe hangingadownwardly out offlthe path ofparts to be'described later so thab when the V I reverse-lever weremoved into the'cor ner.

therewould be no effectnupon the: controllin mechanism for the-boosterinoton- The position indicated in the drawings I howeverisithe-positionwhich it would 02 cnpyxwhen it is intended to use thebooster motor andinithisposition it willbe noted that the channel ortrack 17 in the upper edge of therlatch-l is-in-position to engage therounded protuberance 18'on-the underface otthecleft hand end of lever1!) which is pivoted to the adjacentstructure of the locomotiveat20.'Wh'enthe-latch l t'is in its upper position as shown and. the reverselever 1-is moved intothe corner also as shown the rotube-ranee'lfi willbe engaged the tree 17"and the lever wrecked so that" its righthandendwill depress the plunger 21- in the valvular device now to bedescribed in association with other parts. As stated I prefer to use myinventionin connection with air pressure whiel-i may be" obtained fromthe reservoir 23. WVhen the plunger 21 is depressed the valve :24isopened 1 to establish:communication between the pipe 7 25'leading-from the reservoir 23 andthe pipe 26 which latter pipecommunicates with a chamber 27 in a valvular devico 28." The ipef 26alsocommunicates-with thepipe 29 ending to the-.chambor 30below thepiston 31 in o devicerknown: in this art as the booatvr'entrainingnmmrbut which latter is 7 not illmrated-oompleteiy nor in detail forconducted: throu reason that. it forms; no part of the presentinvention.

Fromthe-foregoingi will that after thc reverse leverhae been-moved intothe comerrm pressure fromtherreservoirflfihas reidnedzthmohambenfl inthe valvular device flfiipmvided, ofiooursetthat .the latch :14 hitraised. Now-assoon'as the eagi manipulatesthmminthmttle 'efmiptesmreifrom thcdry pipes'7. will be L i the: by-pss61 32 to theright-hand'side o the piston 33 which latter boiler andstill willtheaibemoved toward some or in a direction to seat the valve 34' and unseat thevalve 35, thevalve 34 controlling simply a port to the atmosphere-torpurposesof ex-' haust Comliiunioeition for tl ieair is now cliamber 27'to the" chain je'r 36 and pipe 37 the latter. discharging; within thebooster throttle operating" cylinder 38 at the upper side of the piston39. This moved downwardly against t piston is-then "e pressure of thespring 40 and by means of, the piston rod i2; pivoted at 4.11:0 the.leven 12, it rocks said lever-12 in a direction to' open the r 7 boosterthrottle 11. Steamican now pass down throughthe pipe 10 to the.cylinders of the booster motor not shown asthebooster motor per se formsinvention. A a

The foregoing condition willLcontinue until such timeas theenginemanpulls. back or hooks up the reverse. lever 1 to a itionl in no part ofthe present 'which; the protuberance 18 will nae out of then be closedbythe springAt) andl'oonso- 'r' uently no more steam will be. admittedto the cylinders of: the booster motor.

I so control" and proportion the parts 14 and 19as to make itpossible-to operate the booster motoreven when the reverse lever "hasbeen] hooked up somewhat. There is, therefore, a certain range ofmovement of i the reverse lever which is idle movementinsofar as thefunction of the pivoted member 19 1S concerned.

steanrexpansivelyand still have the benefit oft-he booster motorsassistance;- This isof particular advantage on long pulls: it

helps to keep up the steam pressure in the boosterengine, I p

7 It will of course be understood-that the primary control valve 22might be: associated with so'meother movin part of-tlie main oontrollin-clevices of t as. shown.

obtain the benefit of the" '70 established from the pi 1e 26 through theln-this way themain cylinders of the locomotwe can be using locomotivealthough 1 pre er to arrange the members:

r The invention herein may Q better understood and more thoroughl mp:preciated it the followinggfactia be locomotive requires the reverselever after me- .inmind. Normal operation f an ordinary 25 starting tobe heldini the; corner until a certain. speed. haszbeen. attained.Tbs-b011 3! is designed l to have sufliciont espwity for tliis )u1poee.:In a locomotive. of: a: given. 7

type, however; supplemented by a booster 3 such a procedure might drainthe boiler especially on long slow pulls up heavy grades. I, therefore,propose to hook up the reverse lever of a booster supplementedlocomotive prior to the time at which such step would normally be takenand allow it to work expansively while at the Jsame time keeping thebooster motor in effective operation. The net result is a greater drawbar pull without draining of the boiler than would otherwise bepossible. The loss of power incident to working the main enginesexpansively is more than made up for by the added tractive effort of thebooster motor.

I claim: v

1. A controlling device for booster motors for locomotives comprising amoving part in the controlling mechanism for the main locomotive, .avalve juxtaposed to the path of movement of said moving part, and amember adapted to maintain the Valve in open position in certainpredetei mined positions of the moving part including a position inwhich steam in the main cylinders of the locomotive has begun to workexpansively.

2. Controlling mechanism for a locomo tive booster motor comprising incombination with the reverse lever, a pilot valve and a member pivotedto the adjacent structure and adapted to maintain the pilot valve inopen position in certain predetermined positions of the reverse leverincluding a position in which steam in the main cylinders of thelocomotive has begun to work expansively. p 3. A controlling device forbooster motors for locomotives comprising a moving part in thecontrolling mechanism for the main locomotive, said moving part having amovable element which is normally out of. operative position, saidelement being operable at the volition of the: engineman, a valvejuxtaposed to the path of movement of said moving part, and a memberintermediate the movable element and said valve adapted to hold thevalve in open position in certain predetermined positions of the movingpart including a position in which steam in the main cylinders of thelocomotive has begun to work expansively.

4:. A controlling mechanism for a locomotive booster motor comprising incomination with the reverse lever, a pilot valve, a movable latch on thelever, and a valve opening member pivoted so as to be engaged by thelatch toopen the valve.

5. In a controlling mechanism for locomotive booster motors thecombinationwith a moving part in the locomotive reversing mechanism, ofa pilot valve for the booster system, a pivoted member for opening saidvalve, and a latch member associated with the moving part adapted toactuate the pivoted member to open the valve.

6. In a controlling mechanism for locomotive booster motors thecombination with a moving part in the locomotive reversing mechanism, ofa pilot valve for the booster system, a pivoted member for opening saidvalve, and a latch member associated with the moving part adapted toactuate the pivoted member to open-the valve said latch member and saidpivoted member being so arranged and proportioned as to maintain thevalve in open position in certain predetermined positions of the movingpart including a position in which steam in the main cylinders of thelocomotive has begun to work expansively.

7. In a controlling mechanism for locomotive booster motors thecombination with a' moving part in the locomotive reversing, mechanism,of a pilot valve for the booster system, a pivoted member under thecontrol of said moving part, and means permitting movement of the movingpart while the booster motor is operating which movement is idle insofaras the function of the pivoted member is concerned.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

